Hello,
My name is Dr Karen Walton.
Today I write to introduce a new research study that involves collaboration between the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), the Illawarra Shoalhaven Medicare Local and the University of Wollongong. The study is titled, ‘Engaging General Practitioners to improve health service delivery to older patients: an action-based research project’.

This study is funded by IHMRI and has three phases. The first phase involves a qualitative, exploratory study to better understand the context that general practice staff work within and to identify barriers and opportunities to nutrition screening in older patients. Recruitment of General Practice staff members is currently underway at the three General Practice settings involved in this first phase of the study.

The research team includes: Dr Andrew Dalley, Associate Professor Karen Charlton, Professor Jan Potter, Dr Karen Walton, Mariana Milosavljevic, Dr George Albert, Dr Adam Hodgkins, Dr Andrew Bonney and Aliza Hamirudin.

Regular updates will be provided once the exploratory interviews have started.

Three members of the research team –Dr Karen Walton, Aliza Hamirudin (Dietitian & PhD student) and A/Prof. Karen Charlton